Italian Wine: Wine Tasting From Campania
Well, it’s been a little bit since our last video, so I decided to take a look at 2 wines instead of the usual 1 to make up for the extended lay off!
I’m tasting wine from Italy (where else) and dove a little deeper into the types of wine that are out there.
On tap for this video are Greco di Tufo and Lacryma Christi. Two wines that you may not have heard of but should know a little bit about.
Let’s take the white wine first: Greco di Tufo.
This wine is from Avellino, which is due east of Naples in Italy’s Campagnia region. The grapes that make up this wine are ancient and are thought to have come from Greece, perhaps Thessaly (hence the term Greco in the grape title). The ‘di Tufo’ comes from the volcanic soil that the grapes are grown on. Overall this wine was a nice departure from some of the whites that I’ve been enjoying. Primarily because it has a much rounder and substantial feel to it. If you like a more robust wine (maybe some of you Chardonnay lovers need a change of pace?) this wine will give you more body that other whites.
Interestingly, while the reviews that I read said that the wine has flavors of lemon and almond and mineral (which pretty much describes almost every wine in Italy) I thought this wine had some bitter orange and floral notes to it. I was happy to have checked it out and if you ever see it in your wine shop, you’ll now know a little more about it.
The red I tried came from a little Italian market near me that just opened and its backstory alone necessitated trying it.
The wine’s name, Lacryma Christi, literally means Tears of Christ. And the story goes that Christ shed his tears on Mt. Vesuvius and those tears allowed the vines there to grow grapes. Lacryma Christi also comes from Campagnia and, not surprisingly, Mt. Vesuvius. It is comprised of two grapes, Piedirosso and Aglianico. I had never had Piedirosso before so this was a fun experience. I love Aglianico and find that when it’s done right, it’s a wonderful dark and brooding wine (e.g. Feudi di San Gregorio’s Serpico). While I won’t replace my Tuscan favorites with this wine, I was happy to have tried if for only the following reason. Drinking Piedirosso allows you to consume a wine that is the closest possible to the wines that were consumed in Ancient Rome. How is that possible? Well, researchers examined the wine residue in containers found in Ancient Rome and determined that the closest living wine to that was Piedirosso. So you’ve got a little bit of history on your side if you try this. Besides Feudi di San Gregorio is a great producer so it’s good to get to know them a little bit.
Enjoy the video and I look forward to making the next one.
Cheers!